Means for coupling feeders or the like to printing-presses.



W. H. SMITH. MEANS FOR COUPLING PEEDERS OR THE LIKE TO PRINTING PRESSES.

' AIPLIGATION I'ILED APR. 26, 1911.' V

Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

2 SHEETSSHBET 1.

z 0 m a v m a W. H. SMITH. MEANS FOR COUPLING FEEDERS OR THE LIKE TQPRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 26, 1911.

1,079,370. I Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

: T 31mm I fliziier 1% Sau'i/z 7 barren sraa as Parana OFFICE.

W'ALTER SMITH, OF NILES, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE HARRIS AUTOMATIC PRESS COMPANY, OF NILES, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

MEANS FOR COUPLING FEEDERS OR THE LIKE TO PRINTING-PRESSES.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it. known .thatI, WALTER H. SMITH, of Niles in the county' of Trumbull and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Means for C011- pling Feeders or the like to Printing- Presses; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, scription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which ,it appertains to make and use the same.

The objects of this invention are to provide simple and highly efiicient means for.

effecting a coupling between a printing press and cooperative mechanism, such as. a

' feeder; to provide for properly timing the the frame of a press. and a feeder.

stopping or throwing out of action of such cooperating mechanism, either manually or automatically; to insure the restarting or throwing into act-ion of the cooperating mechanism at the proper point to bring about the necessary cooperative action with the press; and also to guard against liability of breakage in the event of any mishap with the cooperating mechanism when the same is in coiiperative relation with the press. I

The invention will be hereinafter fully set forth and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figpre- 1 is a side elevation of a portion'of a printing 2 is an enlarged side view, looking outwardly from one side of the feeder frame, showing the prime mover coupled to the driving shaft'of thefeede'r. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on lines 3-3 Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional View showing the parts in the position' they occupy when the coupling is attempted at the wrong moment; Fig. 5 shows aslight modification.

' Referring to the drawings, 1 designates printing ress, a portion only of which frame is indicated in Fig. 1; 2 is the impression cylinder and 3 the plate-r carrying cylinder, or it may be the trans fer-cylinder of an offset press.

4 is a clamping plate which is attached to press frame 1 by set screws 5; such-plate serving to clamp to the press frame a tie rod 6 forming part of frame 7'of cooperating mechanism which it is desired to 7 hold fast to the press frame and yet permit of ready detachment: In the present in- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 26, 1911.

clear, and. exact decarries a beveled which carries two .to pull it in the direction Patented Nov. 25, 1913. Serial No. 623,487.

stance this cooperating mechanism is a feeder which may be of any preferred construction, and which is conventionally indicated at 7 Fig. 1 and is shown as having a stock conveyer in the form of a series of rollers.

The prime mover for the feeder is shown in the form of a clutch disk 8 fast on a short shaft 9 whose bearing 9 is bolted or other- Wise secured to'the press frame. This shaft pinion 10 which is driven by a second beveled pinion. 11 fast to the shaft of a gear 12 which. is driven by gear 14 of the press gearing, which,'in the present instance is shown as on the impression cylinder shaft 15. The clutch disk 8 on its outer vertical face has a tooth 8*. 16 designates a second clutch disk which has on its outer vertical face a tooth 16 which is designed to engage tooth 8 of disk 8. This disk 16 is splined on asecond shaft 17 in axial line with shaft 9, and this shaft 17 drives the feeder, its rotation being communicated to the latter by any suitable mechanism. The disk 16 is capable of moving longitudinally of shaft -17, and it has an extended-hub upon which is a nut 18. The movement of disk 16 longitudinally of its shaft is effected through a rocking yoke 19 pins 20 which extend into diametrically opposite holes of a friction collar 21 loose on the hu'b'of said disk. A spring 22 attached to the feeder frame exerts a constant tension on the yoke, tending 2, to disengage disk 16 from the driving disk 8. Adjacent to friction ring 21, is a ball bearing 23, and next to the latter is a friction washer 24 between which and disk 16 is a coil spring 25, the tendency of which is to force disk 16 into engaement with disk 8 when the yoke is move toward the disks. If the teeth of the twofdisks shouldbe in line when the disk16 is moved'toward disk 8 by yoke 19., resulting in their engagement face on, as shown in Fig. 4, the spring 25 will be compressed, thus putting a spring tension, for the time being, on disk 16,"which tension will causesuch disk to move into proper position when the tooth of disk 8 is moved out of engagement with the tooth of disk 16. This spring also allows the two disks to be forced apart in the event of an over-load on the feeder.

The yoke 19 is carried by a shaft 26 which of the arrow. Fig..

- by latch 29.

i engaged from carried this shaft carries 19 so that spring 22 This latch normally occupies the.

its long arm will be lowered extends transversely of frame 7, and at that end opposite to that on which the yoke is toothed collar 28 with which latter a latch 29 is designed to'engage when the yoke is moved-in the direction to couple the driven jshaft. To so 'move the yoke the handle 27 is raised, and is retained-in its raised position (See Fig. 1.) The parts will remain in the position thus describeduntil latch 29 -is tripped. 'This maybe aecom the means for accomplishing this resultmay be widely varied, I have shown for this purpose a latch 31 inthe form of a lever fulcrum'ed on'a stud 32, mounted on a bracket 33 extending-laterally from the feeder frame 7. Upon the short arm of this latch-lever is mounted a roller 34 which is held in en'- fast tojthe driven feeder shaft 17. .This cam' makes one complete revolution for each cycle of'opcragagement with a cam 36 'tion of the feeder and press, and it has a peripheral projection for vibrating the latch lever 31 once in each cycle of operation.

' position shown in Figs. 1 and 2, that isto sa'y,the end of its long arm is normally raised and'lies in line with a projection 3.5 of yoke 19, but when the latch lever is vibrated the end of out of the path of projection 35. ,If latch 29 is disengaged from collar 28 at the wrong time, latch 31 .will prevent yoke 19 to effect uncoupling from moving sufficiently until the latch lever is rocked by the cam.

ment, as against the action of spring 22, until the proper or predetermined point in the cycle ofoperation has been reached. In

- other words, the manual tripping of latch move sufficiently 29 permits yoke 19 to tance in thedirection ofthe arrow, suflicien't to'prevent collar 28 being gaged" by latch move a slight disreento disengage the clutch disk until the latch is vibrated,.whereuponthe its'travel under the acwill also occur if the trip latch '29 is disengaged .automatically instead of manually,

but, under ordinary "circumstances, when provis on 'is made for automatically releasing the-trip such action is timed sothat the yoke may immediately more disk 16 into a handle 27 and a the manner of the well the collar of shaft 26. While 'lever 31 unless it mal position.

pin 26 extending from Hence this. latch lever servesto retain the'clutchdisks in engage-j "sary. It will be screws-5 the feeder frau'ie may be bodily re-- Fig. 2,

29,: but the yoke will not- Theresult just' described uncoupling position; but the describedmeans makes it possible for theautomatic tripping tobe timed in different relation'to the. actual subsequent stopping of the fGOdQl.. The means for automatically disengaging the trip from the yoke shaft may also be widely varied. Y In Fig. 1, I have shown a notched rod 40. connected to the throw-oil shaft 42,01? the press, by the handle of the latch 29. The throw oil shaft is preferably springimpelled after known Harris press ;-an instance of which is shown by Patent No. 966,256 issued to me August 2, 1910'-and the release of this shaft results in the tripping of the impression, such release. being effected automatically in the event of any interruption in the feed supply. The fceler lever for engaging the stock is conventionally indicated at 43 in Fig. '1. If stock is not in position at the proper time the feeler lever will eifect the actuation of the trip mechanism, and a partial turning of shaft will cause rod 40 to be moved to disengage latch 29 from. shaft 26, permit: ting the spring-impelled yoke to move in the directioii of uncoupling. I such movement. howevenTbeing prevented by the arresting occur at the predeten mined time when such lever is out of its nor- If desired, (see Fig. 5). the automatic re lease of the holding latch 29 may be effected other than by mechanical. means. For instance, the handle 30 may be moved by energizing a magnet 4.4 in close proximity thereto, the closing of the circuit through the magnet being occasioned by the absence of stock in a manner well known in the art.

The arresting lever 31.is held in its normal position by a spring 4C5 attached to a bracket 33. I, have shown a spring bumper 47 forming a cushion for the yoke when moved by spring '22.

designed to engage a pin .41 carried The'operation of the described mecha- I nism ismanifest from what hasbeen hero inbefore stated, and repetition is unueces noted that by removing the moved from the press. The. feeder canbe returned and attached to the press, regardless of the position of clutch disk 16; that is to say, when t ie parts'are in their normal position and again ,set in operation the starting of the feederwil-l'be properly timed without attention- 'on the operators part otherithan the partial turning of shaft26; While this may be accomplished at any point, the actual rotation of the driven shaft 17 will occur only at a predetermined time; and likewise although the holding latch 29 may be disengaged from shaft 26, at any time, either manually or. automatically, .the'

, unclutching of the disks can occur only at that if there is an over-load on the feeder mg shaft, means for normally locking said a predetermined point. It will also be noted the tooth or projection of the driving disk 8 may slip by the corresponding tooth or projection of the driven disk 16 without actuating the feeder shaft 17. The teeth of the two disks are of such formation that the feeder will not be turned backward if the press gearing be reversed, the angle of the teeth being such that upon reversing shaft 9 spring 25 will be compressed, allowing disk 16 to move longitudinally of its shaft.

I claim as my invention:

1. In combination with a printing press having a driving shaft, and a feeder having a driven shaft, cooperating clutch members carried bysaid shafts, one clutchimember being movable longitudinally of its shaft, means for moving such clutch member on its shaft to disengage it from the cooperative clutch member on the other shaft, means for normally arresting such movement, and means for actuating said arresting means once in each cycle of operation to permit said clutch members to be disengaged.

2. In combination with a printing press having a driving shaft, and a feeder having a driven shaft, coiiperating clutch members carried by said shafts, one clutch member being movable longitudinally of its shaft, means for moving such clutch member on its shaft to disengage it from the cooperative clutch member on the other shaft, means for normally holding said moving means to retain the members in coiiperative relation, means for arresting said moving means if released by said holding means other than at a predetermined point in the cycle of operation, and means for actuating said arresting means once in each cycle of operation to permit the clutch members to be disengaged.

3. The combination with a printing press and a shaft actuated thereby forming a driving shaft, of a feeder, an operating shaft therefor forming a driven shaft, said shafts being in axial alinement, clutch members carried by said shafts and having interengaging projections, the clutch member of the driven shaft being movable longitudinally thereof, means for so moving such member to disengage it from the member of the drivmoving means, means for arresting said moving means when released by said locking means, and means for periodically actuating said arresting means to release said moving means at a predetermined point in the cycle, of operation of the feeder.

4. The combination with a printing press and a feeder therefor, of a driving shaft, a clutch disk on said shaft, a driven shaft for operating said feeder, a second clutch disk loose on said driven shaft for coiiperating with the first mentioned disk, a yoke for moving said disk on said driven shaft, a spring interposed between said disk and said yoke, means for normally holding said yoke, means for releasing said holding means, and periodically actuated means for permitting said yoke to disengage the disks at a predetermined point in the cycle of operation of the feeder.

5, The combination with a printing press and a feeder therefor, of a driving shaft, a driven shaft for operating said. feeder, clutch members carried by said shafts, means for disengaging said clutch members, means for normally locking said disengaging means, met'is for automatically releasing said locking means in the event of any interruption in the feed supply to the press, arresting means for prevenling said disengaging means from releasing said clutch members except at a predetermined point in the cycle of operation of the feeder, and means for periodically actuating said arresting means.

6. The combination with a printing press having a driving shaft and a clutch member thergfor, of a feeder having a driven shaft, a cooperating clutch member movable longitudinally of said driven shaft, a yoke, a spring interposed between. said yoke and said clutch member of the driven shaft, a shaft carrying said yoke, a trip for locking said shaft to cause said yoke to hold said clutch members in cooperative relation, means for releasing said trip, a lever designed to arrest the movement of said yoke if said trip is actuated other than that at a predetermined point-in the cycle of operation of the shaft,and a'constantly operating cam for actuating said lever at a predetermined point in' such cycle of operation to permit the yoke to disengage the clutch members.

7. The combination with a printing press having tripping mechanism and means for actuating the same in the event of any interruption in the feed supply, of a feeder for said press, a driving shaft, an operating shaft for said feeder, actuated by said driving shaft, cotiperatin clutch members carried by said shafts, said clutch members having each a single projection, which projections are designed to normally engage with each other, yielding means for normally holding said clutch members in cooperative relation to allow said projections to engage, a trip for said holding means, and means actuated by the tripp' 1g of the press cylinders for releasing said trip.

8. The combination with a printing press having tripping mechanism,.and means for actuating the same in the event of any interruption in the feed supply, of afeeder for said press, a driving shaft, an operating shaft for said-feeder, actuated by said driving shaft, coiiperatin'g clutch members carried by said shafts, means for normally hold- 'ing said clutch members in eoiiperaigive rela- In testimonywhereof; I have signed this v ,tion, a trip for said holding means, means specification in the presence of two subscrib- {actuated by the tripping-0f the press cylining witnesses. ders for releasing s aid trip, and means for WALTER H. SMITH. 5 preventing the unclutehing of saidmembers- Witnesses:

except at}; predetermined point inlthe cycle J OHNI'AQMURPHY,

of operation of the feeder. 1 FRANCIS S. MAGUIRE. 

